Semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange systems

1. A first merchant node on a semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system, the first merchant node being associated with a first merchant and comprising: one or more processors; and a memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the first merchant node to: create a plurality of first virtual currency units; issue, by applying a first merchant digital signature to a cryptographic hash of a previous transaction combined with a first customer public key, one or more first virtual currency units to a first customer account associated with a first customer computing device of a plurality of customer computing devices within the semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system, wherein the plurality of customer computing devices are respectively associated with a plurality of customers and each of the plurality of customer computing devices is incapable of creating any type of virtual currency units within the system; receive a first transaction request for exchanging one or more of the first virtual currency units for a second currency type between the first customer account and a second customer account associated with a second customer computing device of the plurality of customer computing devices within the system, wherein the second currency type is created by one or more second merchant nodes associated with a second merchant on the semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system; validate the first transaction request by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being requested, the transaction history comprising one of a first customer digital signature or a first merchant digital signature; create a first transaction receipt after the first transaction request has been validated; send the first transaction receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes for storage to record the first transaction receipt within the system; detect a presence of a respective computing device selected from the first customer computing device, the second customer computing device, and a third customer computing device within a predetermined area by receiving GPS data from the respective computing device, receiving an RFID signal from the respective computing device, the respective computing device connecting to a local network associated with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the first merchant, or combinations thereof; prompt the respective computing device to generate a first redemption request; receive, based on the prompt and from the point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the first merchant, the first redemption request to redeem one or more of the first virtual currency units from one of the first customer account, the second customer account, or a third customer account associated with the third customer computing device of the plurality of customer computing devices within the system; validate the first redemption request by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being redeemed, the transaction history comprising one of the first customer digital signature, the first merchant digital signature, a second customer digital signature, or a third customer digital signature; create a first redemption receipt after the first redemption request has been validated; and send the first redemption receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes for storage to record the first redemption receipt within the system, wherein the first merchant node is a first node among one or more first nodes on the semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system, wherein the one or more first nodes are associated with the first merchant and exclusively create the first virtual currency units within the semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system.

2. The first merchant node of claim 1 , further comprising: acquiring the first customer's digital signature for validation; and acquiring the cryptographic hash of the previous transaction that can be combined with the first customer public key, wherein the first virtual currency comprises rewards credits that are exclusively redeemable from the first merchant.

3. The first merchant node of claim 2 , wherein the second currency type comprises one or more second virtual currency units that are exclusively created by a second merchant node of the one or more second merchant nodes.

4. The first merchant node of claim 3 , wherein the one or more second virtual currency units comprises rewards credits that are exclusively redeemable from the second merchant, the second merchant being different from the first merchant.

5. The first merchant node of claim 1 , wherein an issuance of one or more of the first virtual currency units to the first customer account comprises: validating the issuance; creating an issuance receipt after the issuance has been validated; sending the issuance receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes for storage to record the issuance receipt within the system.

6. The first merchant node of claim 1 , wherein issuing one or more of the first virtual currency units to the first customer account comprises: receiving a virtual currency issue request for the first customer account when the first customer computing device is located proximate the POS terminal associated with the first merchant; issuing one or more of the first virtual currency units to the first customer account while the first customer computing device is located proximate the POS terminal.

7. The first merchant node of claim 1 , wherein sending the first transaction receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes comprises sending the first transaction receipt to a first plurality of the second merchant nodes, and sending the first redemption receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes comprises sending the first transaction receipt to a second plurality of the second merchant nodes that differs from the first plurality of the second merchant nodes.

8. The first merchant node of claim 1 , wherein validating the first transaction comprises: receiving a notification of successful verification by the first customer computing device based on a first customer public key associated with the first customer computing device and a first customer private key known only to the first customer computing device; validating a purported first merchant digital signature on the transaction history based on a first merchant private key known only to the first merchant node and associated with a first merchant public key, the first merchant digital signature being generated based on the first merchant private key; validating the first transaction based on the received notification and the validation of the purported first merchant digital signature.

9. The first merchant node of claim 1 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the first merchant node to: receive a second transaction request from one or more of the second merchant nodes for exchanging one or more of the first virtual currency units for second currency type between the first customer account and the second customer account associated with the second customer computing device of the plurality of customer computing devices within the system; validate the second transaction request; create a second transaction receipt after the second transaction request has been validated; and send the second transaction receipt to one or more of the second merchant nodes for storage to record the second transaction receipt within the system.

10. A first merchant system for operation within a semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system, the first merchant system comprising: one or more first merchant nodes comprising one or more first processors; a point-of-sale (POS) terminal comprising one or more POS terminal processors; and one or more memories in communication with the one or more first processors and the one or more POS terminal processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more first processors and one or more POS terminal processors, are configured to cause the first merchant system to: generate, by the one or more first processors, a plurality of first virtual currency units, the first merchant node being associated with a first merchant, wherein the one or more first merchant nodes exclusively generate the first virtual currency units; issue, by the one or more first processors by applying a first merchant digital signature to a cryptographic hash of a previous transaction combined with a first customer public key, one or more of the first virtual currency units to a first customer account associated with a first customer computing device of a plurality of customer computing devices within the system, wherein the plurality of customer computing devices are respectively associated with a plurality of customers and each of the plurality of customer computing devices is incapable of generating first virtual currency units or second virtual currency units; receive, at the one or more first processors, a first transaction request for transferring one or more of first virtual currency units from the first customer account to a second customer account associated with a second customer computing device of the plurality of customer computing devices within the semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system; validate, at the one or more first processors, the first transaction request by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being requested, the transaction history comprising one of a first customer digital signature or a first merchant digital signature; generate, at the one or more first processors, a first transaction receipt after the first transaction request has been validated; transmit the first transaction receipt to one or more second merchant nodes on the system for storage to update a record of first virtual currency transactions within the system, the one or more second merchant nodes being associated with a second merchant and capable of creating one or more of the second virtual currency units; receive, at the one or more first processors, a second transaction request for a second transaction transferring one or more of first virtual currency units from the second customer account to a third customer account associated with a third customer computing device of the plurality of customer computing devices within the system; validate, at the one or more first processors, the second transaction request by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being requested, the transaction history comprising one of the first customer digital signature, a second customer digital signature, or the first merchant digital signature; generate, at the one or more first processors, a second transaction receipt after the second transaction request has been validated; transmit the second transaction receipt to the one or more second merchant nodes on the system for storage to update a record of second virtual currency transactions within the system; detect a presence of a respective computing device selected from the first customer computing device, the second customer computing device, and the third customer computing device within a predetermined area, by receiving GPS data from the respective computing device, receiving an RFID signal from the respective computing device, the respective computing device connecting to a local network associated with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the first merchant, or combinations thereof; prompt the respective computing device to generate a first redemption request; receive, responsive to the prompt and at one or more POS terminal processors of the POS terminal, a first redemption request to redeem one or more of the first virtual currency units from one of the first customer account, the second customer account, or the third customer account, wherein the POS terminal is associated with the first merchant; validate, at the one or more first processors, the first redemption request by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being redeemed, the transaction history comprising one of the first customer digital signature, the second customer digital signature, a third customer digital signature, or the first merchant digital signature; generate, at the one or more first processors, a first redemption receipt after the first redemption request has been validated; and transmit the first redemption receipt to at least the one or more second merchant nodes on the system for storage to update a record of first virtual currency redemptions within the system.

11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the second merchant is different from the first merchant and the one or more second merchant nodes being exclusively capable of creating the second virtual currency units within the system.

12. The system of claim 10 , wherein an issuance request of one or more of the first virtual currency units to the first customer account comprises: validating, at the first merchant node, the issuance request; generating, at the first merchant node, an issuance receipt after the issuance request has been validated; sending the issuance receipt to the one or more second merchant nodes on the system for storage to update the record of first virtual currency transactions within the system.

13. The system of claim 10 , wherein validating the first transaction comprises: receiving, by the one or more first processors, a notification of successful verification by the first customer computing device based on a first customer public key associated with the first customer computing device and a first customer private key known only to the first customer computing device; validating, by the one or more first processors, a purported first merchant digital signature on the transaction history based on a first merchant private key known only to the one or more first merchant nodes and associated with a first merchant public key, the first merchant digital signature being generated based on the first merchant private key; validating the first transaction based on the received notification and the validation of the purported first merchant digital signature.

14. The system of claim 10 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the system to receive, at the one or more first processors, a third transaction receipt from the one or more second merchant nodes for storage to update a record of third virtual currency transactions within the system.

15. A first merchant node on a semi-private blockchain virtual currency exchange system, the first merchant node being associated with a first merchant and comprising: one or more processors; and a memory in communication with the one or more processors and storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, are configured to cause the first merchant node to: create a plurality of first virtual currency units, wherein the first merchant node exclusively creates the first virtual currency units within the system; issue one or more of the first virtual currency units to one or more of a plurality of customer accounts each associated with one of a plurality of customer computing devices within the system; create an issuance receipt after the first virtual currency units have been issued; send the issuance receipt to a randomly-identified subset of a plurality of second merchant nodes for storage to record the issuance receipt within the system, the plurality of second merchant nodes being unassociated with the first merchant and incapable of creating the first virtual currency units within the system; receive one or more transaction requests for transferring one or more of first virtual currency units between two or more of the customer accounts; validate each of the transaction requests by validating each transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being requested, wherein the transaction history comprises one or more digital signatures associated with each previous first currency holders; create a transaction receipt after each of the transaction requests has been validated; send each of the transaction receipts to a first randomly-identified subset of the plurality of second merchant nodes for storage to record the transaction receipts within the system; detect a presence of a respective computing device selected from one of the plurality of customer computing devices within a predetermined area, by receiving GPS data from the respective computing device, receiving an RFID signal from the respective computing device, the respective computing device connecting to a local network associated with a point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the first merchant, or combinations thereof; prompt the respective computing device to generate a first redemption request; receive, responsive to the prompt and from the point-of-sale (POS) terminal associated with the first merchant, one or more redemption requests to redeem one or more of the first virtual currency units from one of the customer accounts; validate each of the redemption requests by validating a transaction history associated with the plurality of first virtual currency units being redeemed, wherein the transaction history comprises one or more digital signatures associated with each previous first currency holders; create a redemption receipt after the redemption request has been validated; and send the redemption receipt to a second randomly-identified subset of the plurality of second merchant nodes for storage to record the redemption receipt within the system.

16. The first merchant node of claim 15 , wherein at least a portion of the first virtual currency units comprises rewards credits that are exclusively redeemable from the first merchant via the first merchant node.

17. The first merchant node of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of second merchant nodes comprises a second merchant node and a third merchant node, the second merchant node being exclusively capable of creating and redeeming second virtual currency units within the system and the third merchant node being exclusively capable of creating and redeeming third virtual currency units within the system.

18. The first merchant node of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are further configured to cause the first merchant node to randomly identify the first subset of the plurality of second merchant nodes and identify the second subset of the plurality of second merchant nodes, the first subset differing from the second subset.

19. The first merchant node of claim 15 , further comprising the point-of-sale (POS) terminal providing an interface for issuing and redeeming one or more of the first virtual currency units.